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By C. A. Stetefeldt

Jan 1, 1895

By William P. Blake

At the August meeting of the Geological Society of America, I presented a paper on the occurrence of alunogen and bauxite upon the Upper Gila river, about 40 miles north from Silver City, New Mexico, together with observations upon the geology of that region." Inasmuch as the subject is specially interesting to metallurgists and mining engineers, and as our Transactions contain recent important papers, by Dr. Hayes, M. Laur, of France and others, upon bauxite, I venture to offer to the Institute, in more condensed form, an account of the deposits described in the paper above referred to. The only other published account of the alunogen locality which I have been able to find is a prospectus-pamphlet, issued in a small

Jan 1, 1895

A. E. Hunt, Pittsburgh, Pa : I have heard these papers read with a great deal of pleasure. I am particularly interested, in a financial way, in the bauxites as ores of aluminum, and it is safe to prophesy that there will be many more mining engineers in the future who will be interested in these ores of aluminum, in the same way as many are

Jan 1, 1895

Jan 1, 1895

By F. M. F. Cazin

In my first paper, relating in general to the movement of solids in a medium, I stated a newly-discovered natural law, and explained its application to mechanical ore-concentration. This law, as applied primarily to the motion of ships in water, had been announced, demonstrated and defended by me in the Journal of the Franklin Institute for March, April and May, 1893, and has not been controverted since then. I therefore contented myself in my first paper with the simple statement of it; and in order to avoid unnecessary repetition, I refer the readers of this paper to that statement (ante, p. 81) and to the earlier publication already mentioned.*

Jan 1, 1895

By P. G. Linder

The mechanical concentration of ores has not attained any considerable extent in Sweden, by reason of a scarcity of ores calling for this kind of treatment. Of rich iron-ores there is still an abundant supply; and magnetic concentration, which in the future undoubtedly will become of great importance, not being as yet demanded by necessity, has not advanced beyond a few experiments. At the copper-mines mechanical concentration has been superseded by chemical processes; the lead mines are worked out; and it is (with one exception) only the mines producing blende, or blende and galena intimately mixed, that have adopted mechanical methods for enriching their low-grade ores. While the concentrating-plants in Sweden are few and their output is comparatively insignificant, the methods employed, the general features of the work and the results obtained under extremely unfavorable conditions, may offer some points of interest to persons who are engaged in this branch of industry and have similar problems to deal with. Before going into a detailed description of the several plants, I will offer a few remarks that hold good for all of them and constitute a general review of Swedish concentration and its conditions. At all the works the ore to be treated is a mixture of blende and

Jan 1, 1895

By Guy R. Johnson

Like many other similar plants the ore-washer of the Longdale Iron Company has been a growth of years. In its principal features there is probably nothing new, as the type is that of the well-known " log-washer." Some of its minor details may, however, be of interest to those members who have to deal with the washing of large quantities of brown iron-ores, the principal gangue of which is clay. * Until 1883, the ore at Longdale, being of unusual purity, needed no washing, and was charged to the furnaces as it came from the mines—both lump and fine—the only attempt at cleaning being the' picking over a screen of 1½-inch iron bars, 3½ inches from center to center, set in the top of the bins through which the cars for the furnaces were loaded." In 1883 it was no longer possible to win the ore by open cuts, and regular underground work became necessary. It was very

Jan 1, 1895

Jan 1, 1895

By Thomas H. Leggett

A number of papers on the use of electricity in mining operations have been presented at the Institute meetings recently, but only a very few of them have given particulars and details of the

Jan 1, 1895

By William P. Blake

In the recent litigation for the possession of franklinite by one party and of zinc-ore by the other party, it was shown by the evidence of experts familiar with the original condition of the outcrops that at Mine Hill a more or less disticctly defined layer of red zincore underlay the heavier and larger body of the franklinite, so-called ; this layer or bed of zinc-ore dipping under the franklinite upon the western cropping, while at Stirling Hill, two miles south, the conditions were apparently reversed, the zinc-ore overlying the franklinite. An explanation being required, it was shown, first, that at both places, at Mine Hill on the north and at Stirling Hill on the south, the ore-bed lies in a synclinal or trough-like fold with the red zincore under the franklinite; and secondly, that at Mine Hill, we see chiefly the outcrop of the western part of the folded bed and at Stirling Hill the eastern part; the Mine Hill cropping being on the western slope, and the Stirling Hill cropping on the eastern slope of the hill. Thus the ''back vein" at Stirling (the western outcrop) corresponds with the front-vein at Mine Hill, and, like it, has the red zinc-ore on the foot-wall, while the front-vein or eastern cropping at Stirling corresponds to the back-vein or eastern cropping at Mine Hill in the part of the bed generally known as the " buckwheat-field vein." If the ore-bed were continuous in one synclinal trough between the two localities, no further explanation would be required. But it is not so ; and the synclinal folds at both places pitch steeply to the north, bringing the beds to the surface in horseshoe-like curves at their southern ends or croppings, and carrying the beds far below the surface northwards. This justifies a doubt

Jan 1, 1895

By John Birkinbine

What is believed to be an Aztec, or possibly a Toltec, mirror, is claimed to have been taken from one of the tombs at Cholula, near the city of Puebla, Mexico, where there is a mound of considerable size, in fact a hill, largely constructed of adobe bricks by the Toltecs, or by those who antedated them. The mirror is formed from a mass of what is evidently pyrite, is nearly a true hemisphere, having a diameter of 3 1/8 inches, and weighs 19 ounces. From its unusual size it is believed to have been hung about the neck of an idol. Other Aztec mirrors of smaller dimensions, and of less weight, so as to be carried about the person, are known; but the one exhibited, being heavy, was apparently intended to be held in the hollow of the hand, in which it fits, and may have been utilized to flash heliotropic signals. The entire surface, both of the base and of the convex portion of the hemisphere proper, has been beautifully polished, but, for some reason, the mirror has been shamefully abused, the edges having been broken, and the center of the base defaced, possibly by some one testing it for precious metals. Near the top of the hemisphere a hole, one-fourth of an inch in

Jan 1, 1895

By Jacob Lychenheim

IN connection with the manufacture of special Beseemer pig, containing .030 per Cent. or less of phosphorus, it was found that the phosphorus in anthracite varied so greatly that it was necessary to sample and analyze each car-load. This, of course, in addition to our routine work, involved a considerable amount of extra trouble, and some experiments were made, with the view of cutting down the time and labor of the determination to a minimum.

Jan 1, 1895

By Frank Firmstone

In the Kaernthner Zeitschrift, No. 2, 1881, p. 53, et seq., Prof. Ledebur details some experiments on the power of various silicates of lime and alumina, magnesia and alumina, and lime, magnesia and alumina, to remove sulphur from pig-iron, from which it appears (as has long been recognized in practice) that the more basic the silicate the greater the quantity of sulphur it will take up; but also that for the same grade of silicate, this quantity is greatest for the lime-alumina silicate and least for the magnesia-alumina silicate, the lime-magnesia-alumina silicate occupying an intermediate position, and he concluded therefrom (p. 59) that, for the production of pig-iron low in sulphur, pure limestones are to be preferred to those containing magnesia. Much the same opinion has been published elsewhere on high authority, and lately (not to multiply references) by Sir Lowthian

Jan 1, 1895

By Otto F. Pfordte

The silver-ore-deposits of the famous district of Cerro de Pasco were discovered in 1630 by Huari-Capcha, an Indian shepherd. In the early part of its history, the district yielded enormous riches. The records from 1784 to 1846 (excluding five years, 1821-25, during which civil war prevailed) show a product of 2,323,526 lbs. of silver; and the value of the total product since the discovery may be estimated at about $565,000,000. The town of Cerro de Pasco is situated in the province of the same name, department of Junin, Peru, 14,250 feet above sea-level. The nearest railway station is on the line of the Callao and Cerro de Pasco R.R., at a distance of about three days' travel on horseback. The population of the town numbers about 6000, mostly native Indians. Mines.—The mines are mainly located in the immediate neighborhood of the town and partly even under the principal streets, being distributed in several very large open cuts 250 to 350 feet deep called tajos, which extend in a nearly direct north and south line west of the town and are known as Tajo de Santa Rosa, Tajo Tingo or Portachuelo, Cajac Graude, Cajac Chico, Salsipuedes, Avella Fuerte, and several smaller ones. Tajo de Santa Rosa, the largest and most southerly, is closely connected on its north side with Tajo Tingo; while the others are entirely separate and lie northward in the order given ; the extreme ends of the series being about a mile apart. Besides these, there are Tajo Descubridora a short distance east of Sta. Rosa and Tajo Matagente, about half a mile north of the main plaza in the town of Cerro de Pasco. The argentiferous deposit consists mainly of a ferruginous sandstone, while the neighboring country-rock is limestone, conglomerate and slate. The judicial fixed point from which all mining claims are measured, is a cross erected on a small elevation east of, and between tajos Sta. Rosa and Tingo, called Santa Catalina. This important

Jan 1, 1895

Philip Argall, Denver, Colo. (communication to the Secretary) : Mr. Rickard expresses regret that I have not given more extracts " from the fresh leaves of nature's open book." The quotations used by me in argument were all from nature's open book, and by authorities recognized in the scientific world as being able to decipher nature's unwritten pages, if not lay bare her inmost secrets. The study of -nature should be preceded by a knowledge of her laws. Natural science is but the summary of the observations of the past or an organized and accurate knowledge of the order in which things have been observed to happen. One who ignores the 'knowledge of the past or despises that of the present and approaches nature's open book with a virgin mind but too often finds her

Jan 1, 1895

R. W. Raymond, New York City: As was announced in the Secretary's note, appended to the pamphlet edition of Dr. Ledoux's paper, I have undertaken to superintend the preparation of the samples required by his plan, and the ollation for publication of the results reported. Promises of cordial co-operation hare been received already from a number of leading assayers;? and it is to he expected that the data thus collected, and the discussion to be based upon them, will shed much light upon the important question raised in this paper. Although a detailed discussion of methods on the present occasion might be deemed premature, I am sure that suggestions on the subject from members engaged in assaying would be timely and valuable as a preliminary to later and more detailed criticism. Herbert G. Torrey (U. S. Assay Office), New York City : I may say in relation to the losses in the furnace that I have made a number of experiments, and on my little blank form years ago I put down a place for the losses in the cupel. It met with a good deal of opposition among the smelters, but I claimed that it was my duty to give the full amount of the gold and silver present, and that it

Jan 1, 1895

lv. H. Blauvelt, Great Falls, Montana (communication to the Secretary): In his remarks on Mr. Stetefeldt's paper (Trans., xxiii., 587)) Mr. Goetz observes: " Trouble experienced with producers at Great Falls influenced me to try Taylor producers instead of those of Wellman. But recent reports show that the Wellman producers work better, besides coating nearly 50 per cent. less than Taylor producers of equal capacity. Indiana and Illinois coals cannot be used in the Taylor producers by reason of the large size and hardness of the clinkers which they form." I think that Mr. Goetz must have been misinformed regarding the work of this producer in Illinois. One of the large mauafacturing concerns in that State, the Illinois Zinc Company, situated at Peru, which uses a coal mined in the vicinity, tried one Taylor producer, some four years ago, in competition with those of an older type, which it had been using. As a result of this trial, the company has now thirteen Taylor producers, which have been in operation for about three years. A recent report from these works says that the Taylor producers have largely reduced the loss of coal through the grate, and have also improved the quality of the gas, as compared with that produced from the same coal in the producers of the older type. This Illinois coal is, perhaps, the worst in the country for making gas; since, besides containing from 20 to 40 per cent. of ash, it carries a large quantity of pyrites, so that the clinkers are large and extremely hard, and the capacity of the producer is most severely tested.

Jan 1, 1895

E. K. Landis, Philadelphia, Pa. (communication to the Secretary) : Mr. Firmstone's paper is of great interest; but he has unfortunately otnitted to state the most important point, viz., the percentage of sulphur in the two materials he compares; and this omission vitiates the conclusions which he draws. Comparing by grade, instead of silicon-contents (as in his Table III.), the iron made using limestone with that made using dolomite, we find for gray-forge the average of four analyses under limestone to be, Si, 0.644; S, 0.089 ; while one analysis under dolomite gives Si, 0.508 ; S, 0.070. For No. 2 iron, the limestone flux gives, as an average of 19 analyses, Si, 1.107; S, 0.051; while the average of 4 analyses made with dolomite flux gives Si, 0.630; S, 0.056. It will be observed, that no No. 1 pig is given under limestone, while 14 analyses appear under dolomite, averaging Si, 0.950 ; S, 0.028. As nothing is said about changed conditions, it is Fair to presume that the ore and fuel, as well as the blast-temperature (which is stated to have been uniform at about 750' F.) remained practically the same; and since the sulphur in the two fluxes is not given, it is impossible to know whether the lower sulphur for equal silicon-contents is due to the use of dolomite or to other conditions. The use of dolomite would produce a more fusible cinder, and the furnace would be hotter than when using limestone; therefore, we might expect to see a grayer iron. The amount of So. 1 iron made with dolomite seems to confirm this supposition; and, under these conditions, we might expect more of the sulphur to be volatilized, and to pass off in the gases. The easier fusibility of the cinder would also permit more rapid driving; and this should reduce the amount of silicon and sulphur in the iron, as the amount of reduced metalloids in the pig is directly proportional to the length of time it remains in the reducing-zone.

Jan 1, 1895

John S. Kennedy, Chamhersburg, Pa. (communication to the Secretary): The washing-plant described by Mr. Johnson is a good illustration of the advantages derived from a well-designed and care-

Jan 1, 1895

Jan 1, 1895